This invention is in the area of information services, and pertains in particular to a service for providing customers selected video information, such as news events and events of special interest, to client in a timely manner.
There are presently available services that select video information from available sources, such as network news and other TV programming, and deliver such information to clients. These services fall into two basic categories. A first type of such a service reviews available materials and compiles selected tapes categorized by specific topics. After the time required to preview available materials and compile the tapes, customers who have subscribed for specific categories of information are provided copies of the tapes by commercial carrier.
In this first type of video delivery service, a delivered video tape on the selected topic or topics is played by the client in a conventional VCR. In a variation of the same service delivers organized video information by CD-ROM, which is then viewed by the client on a computer video display using a CD-ROM drive in conjunction with suitable software executed on the computer.
A second type of video delivery service is available by computer on-line services, such as COMPUSERVE, PRODIGY, and DIALOG, wherein a user may conduct a search, or may pay an intermediary to do the search, for information on substantially any topic of interest. In the case of on-line services, a modem installed in or connected to a user""s computer is utilized for communicating with the on-line service""s host and transmitting or receiving information. Communication is over the installed telephone network.
With a service based on use of individual media, such as video tapes and CD-ROM disks, there is an inherent delay associated with physically organizing subject matter and recording on the deliverable recording media. Time lapse between a real event and delivery of the video tape or CD-ROM may be from several hours to several days.
The second type of video service, based on computer on-line access, although providing a more ready response than the deliverable media service, is still rather slow, and is certainly not user-friendly. At a typical transmission rate of 14.4 kbaud in some faster modems, the time required to download a single video selection may be from 10 to 30 minutes or more, depending on the size of the file. Data compression schemes may be used to reduce the size of a file before transmission, but major improvements in overall response time are still needed.
What is needed is a video jukebox service, a video information service that monitors conventional video sources, and alerts its clients to selected topics as soon as a selection becomes available, and also permits clients to select for downloading only those items the client wishes to view. Preferably, such a service would be scaled to the needs of different clients, having a low-end version operable on existing personal computer hardware systems, and a high-end version requiring special equipment, but having faster transmission and enhanced display quality.
In a preferred embodiment, a video jukebox system is provided. The system comprises a plurality of computerized file server stations interconnected in a network by first data links, with individual ones of the file server stations also connected to a video input apparatus, such as a VCR device or other device capable of providing video input to the connected file server. There is a plurality of client stations connected by second data links to individual ones of the file server stations. Each file server station with a video input apparatus accepts video clippings from the video input apparatus, stores the clippings in a database, and shares the video clippings with other file servers in the network over the first data links, and wherein each file server notifies connected clients of new video clippings available, and downloads video clippings to clients on demand.
Also in a preferred embodiment, each file server has transactional control routines for tracking client transactions and billing clients. In an alternative embodiment, such transactional accounting may be the business of a dedicated file server in the network.
In various embodiments of the system of the invention, data links can be of various sorts, with a preferred data link being an Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) link. In some cases, for clients wishing to have a less expensive system, analog telephone modem links may be used.
In an alternative embodiment of the invention, clients are connected to the system at client communication nodes configured to route messages and packets of data in the system. The client communication nodes are connected together in a toroidal array, the file server stations are connected in a toroidal array, and each client communication node is connected to a file server, there being an equal number of client communication nodes and file servers.
The video clipping service of the present invention, referred to by the inventor as a video jukebox, provides a system for allowing clients access to video clippings of news events and other valuable information much quicker than by any known conventional service. The distinct advantage is that such information rapidly declines in value with age for most purposes.